Will Smith

29-Year-Old CatcherC

Los Angeles Dodgers

2024 Stats

AVG

.248

RBI

2025 Projections

AVG

RBI

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2025 Fantasy Outlook

A Will Smith has now been in each of the last five World Series wtih this version bookending the three consecutive appearances by his name twin on the mound. Smith finished the season as a top five catcher and within the top 70 overall while while resuming full-time catching duties. Smith was able to take days off at DH before the arrival of Shohei Ohtani, but that luxury was not there in 2024 so Smith caught in 121 games and appeared in 7 more. His numbers did have a bit of a fall-off in the second half, no doubt in part to the resumption of all the time donning the infamous tools of ignorance. Smith's .272/.346/.492 first half line with 15 homers fell to .206/.295/.331 after the break. His .248 final average was the lowest of his career, but still a few points above the league average mitigating that issue. Ohtani will not need to take all the DH time in 2025, so some half-days off should be more available to Smith to keep him fresher throughout the season. After all, this is the only player with catcher eligibility who has had at least 500 plate appearances each of the past four seasons. You cannot beat that type of consistency and volume from a position of such scarcity. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

From Preseason

Overall Rank

Dynasty

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 5'10"

Weight 195

DOB 3/28/1995

Born Louisville, KY

College Louisville

Drafted 1st Rd 2016 LAD

Hits first homer of World Series

CLos Angeles Dodgers

October 30, 2024

Smith hit his first homer of this World Series in Tuesday's Game 4 loss to the Yankees.

ANALYSIS
The playoffs and especially the World Series tend to magnify what would be the normal ebbs and flows of the regular season. Smith is playing through a sore hand after taking a foul ball of his left hand in the NLCS. He had a slightly disappointing regular season, hitting .248/.327/.433 with 20 homers, trading some on-base and batting average for a little more power.

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Batting Stats

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2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2024 MLB Game Log

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2019 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2022

+13%

OPS vs LHP

2024

+23%

OPS vs LHP

2023

+1%

OPS vs LHP

2022

+17%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022vs Left	.861	440	68	20	56	3	.265	.368	.493
Since 2022vs Right	.763	1236	157	43	182	2	.253	.334	.429
2024vs Left	.876	155	23	8	21	0	.258	.361	.515
2024vs Right	.715	389	54	12	54	1	.244	.314	.401
2023vs Left	.800	147	23	6	19	3	.240	.354	.446
2023vs Right	.796	407	57	13	57	0	.268	.361	.434
2022vs Left	.908	138	22	6	16	0	.300	.391	.517
2022vs Right	.776	440	46	18	71	1	.247	.327	.448
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2022

+6%

OPS on Road

2024

+16%

OPS on Road

2023

+9%

OPS at Home

2022

+12%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022Home	.765	818	110	31	121	1	.247	.335	.430
Since 2022Away	.811	858	115	32	117	4	.265	.351	.460
2024Home	.703	261	37	8	37	0	.226	.318	.385
2024Away	.812	283	40	12	38	1	.268	.336	.476
2023Home	.829	280	42	13	41	0	.271	.354	.475
2023Away	.762	274	38	6	35	3	.250	.365	.397
2022Home	.760	277	31	10	43	1	.243	.332	.428
2022Away	.850	301	37	14	44	0	.275	.352	.498
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Stat Review

How does Will Smith compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.49

BB Rate

9.4%

K Rate

19.3%

BABIP

.273

ISO

.185

AVG

.248

OBP

.327

SLG

.433

OPS

.760

wOBA

.330

Exit Velocity

89.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

34.2%

Barrels/PA

7.5%

Expected BA

.242

Expected SLG

.446

Sprint Speed

23.2 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

33.1%

Line Drive %

19.3%

Fly Ball %

47.6%

Prospect Rankings History

View Complete Will Smith Prospect Ranking History

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Dodgers Depth Chart

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Will Smith See More

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65 days ago

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Smith had yet another above average offensive season at the dish, especially when you consider he was the only primary catcher to score at least 80 runs last season and just the fifth catcher to do so in the past 15 seasons joining Realmuto, Posey, Martin, and Mauer. Early on, it appeared that Smith was on his way to a huge season as he went into the break with a .279/.396/.494 triple-slash line with 13 homers and 46 RBIs, but hit .242/.320/.381 with just 6 homers and 30 RBIs after the break. Smith's production and outcomes have been consistently impressive as he handles the strains of trying to slow down opposing running games Dodger pitchers struggled to adjust to the new environment. Smith throws very well, yet the league has swiped 118 bases when he has caught over the past two seasons because he is just one part of the equation. Smith and Realmuto are the only two catcher eligible players with at least 125 games played each of the past three seasons. Invest with confidence.

Perhaps no player in baseball is in a more favorable position than Smith. He was the primary cleanup hitter for a 111-win Dodgers team last season, batting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Smith held up his end of the bargain with 24 homers and 87 RBI across 578 total plate appearances. He shaved nearly four points off his strikeout rate from his first full season in the majors and the bat is arguably worthy of more DH starts in the years to come (24 starts as the designated hitter in 2022). The rigors of catching make it tough for any backstop to stay healthy over the entire season, year-in and year-out, but Smith has now cleared 500 plate appearances in back-to-back campaigns. The batted-ball metrics, while not elite, largely support his outstanding results.

Smith made a statement upon arrival to the majors and has quickly established himself among the top handful of catchers in the league. He's done it by hitting about 25 homers over a full season with an acceptable batting average (career .262). He's had two short seasons and one full one so far and the results have been consistent. While his flyball approach will limit his batting average (career 29.6 GB%), he keeps getting on base with an 11.5 BB%. He has major upside if/when the league implements the designated hitter in the National League. Instead of having to rest on his off days from catching, he can fill in as the DH. Smith has the talent to be the league's top catcher and the big difference between him and the catchers being taken after him is that he can make a huge difference by season's end.

Smith began the season in a timeshare with Austin Barnes. On Aug. 14, he was placed on the IL with a sore neck, slashing just .188/.341/.406 at the time. There were signs Smith would snap out of it as he was only fanning at a 12.2% clip while walking at a 19.5% pace to that point. Smith was back in action after the minimum stay and things began to click. The backstop slashed .329/.427/.646 after returning, playing nearly every day by season's end. He led all catchers over 100 PA with a 163 wRC+, supported by a Statcast ranking in the pertinent categories of at least 80th percentile, most 88th or higher. Smith will be challenged to match that over a full season, and needs to work on his framing, but he's still one of best hitting catchers in the league, slotting in the meat of the Dodgers' lineup. Despite subpar defense, a case can be made for Smith being the second-best catcher in fantasy.

Austin Riley is the first to come to mind when thinking of players who started hot upon arrival before fading, but Smith followed a similar path. After getting the call to be the Dodgers' primary backstop in late July, Smith went off for nine homers in 19 games, driving in 25 runs in 62 at-bats. He then hit .183/.277/.305 over his final 26 regular-season games and ended his year by going 1-for-13 in the NLCS. Smith's strong strikeout rate from Triple-A did not carry over, as he fanned at a 26.5% clip with the major-league team, though it's important to note that Smith has a history of making adjustments and cutting down on his K-rate in his second go at a level. A first-round pick in 2016, Smith has always been able to take a walk and he's a plus behind the plate. There's upside here but downside too, as the Dodgers may not be patient if Smith starts in a similar fashion to how he finished 2019.

More Fantasy News

Will start in Game 6

CLos Angeles Dodgers

October 20, 2024

Smith (hand) will start behind home plate and bat eighth for Game 6 of the NLCS against the Mets on Sunday, Noah Camras of DodgersNation.com reports.

ANALYSIS
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X-rays negative on left hand

CLos Angeles Dodgers

Hand

October 19, 2024

Manager Dave Roberts said Saturday that Smith received X-rays on his left hand after taking a foul ball off his catching hand in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

ANALYSIS
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Resting in finale

CLos Angeles Dodgers

September 29, 2024

Smith is not in Sunday's lineup against the Rockies.

ANALYSIS
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Gets breather Friday

CLos Angeles Dodgers

September 27, 2024

Smith is not in the starting lineup for Friday's game against the Rockies, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

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On base three times

CLos Angeles Dodgers

September 25, 2024

Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Tuesday's loss to the Padres.

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Latest Fantasy Rumors

Significant deferrals in extension

CLos Angeles Dodgers

March 28, 2024

Smith's 10-year, $140 million extension with the Dodgers includes $50 million in deferred money, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

ANALYSIS
It's not a surprise to see deferrals included in a deal by the Dodgers given the massive deferrals in Shohei Ohtani's $700 million contract, but the figures for Smith aren't nearly as eye-catching. The 29-year-old has been one of the best catchers in baseball since debuting in 2019 with an .842 OPS in 486 career games, so it's certainly a well-earned extension.

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